1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to spectroscopic systems and methods for the identification and characterization of hemoglobin parameters in blood.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ultraviolet-visible light spectroscopic system involves absorption spectroscopy or reflectance spectroscopy. As the name implies, such systems use light in the visible and near ultraviolet ranges for analyzing a sample. The wavelength range is typically from about 400 nm to about 700 nm. The absorption or reflectance of the visible light directly affects the perceived color of the chemicals involved. UV/Vis spectroscopy is routinely used in analytical chemistry for the quantitative determination of different analytes, such as transition metal ions, highly conjugated organic compounds, and biological macromolecules. Spectroscopic analysis is commonly carried out in solutions but solids and gases may also be studied.
A near-infrared spectroscopic system also involves absorption spectroscopy or reflectance spectroscopy. Such systems use light in the near-infrared range for analyzing a sample. The wavelength range is typically from about 700 nm to less than 2,500 nm. Typical applications include pharmaceutical, medical diagnostics (including blood sugar and pulse oximetry), food and agrochemical quality control, and combustion research, as well as research in functional neuroimaging, sports medicine & science, elite sports training, ergonomics, rehabilitation, neonatal research, brain computer interface, urology (bladder contraction), and neurology (neurovascular coupling).
Instrumentation for near-IR (NIR) spectroscopy is similar to instruments for the UV-visible and mid-IR ranges. The basic parts of a spectrophotometer are a light source, a holder for the sample, a diffraction grating in a monochromator or a prism to separate the different wavelengths of light, and a detector. The radiation source is often a Tungsten filament (300-2500 nm), a deuterium arc lamp, which is continuous over the ultraviolet region (190-400 nm), Xenon arc lamp, which is continuous from 160-2,000 nm, or more recently, light emitting diodes (LED) for the visible wavelengths. The detector is typically a photomultiplier tube, a photodiode, a photodiode array or a charge-coupled device (CCD). Single photodiode detectors and photomultiplier tubes are used with scanning monochromators, which filter the light so that only light of a single wavelength reaches the detector at one time. The scanning monochromator moves the diffraction grating to “step-through” each wavelength so that its intensity may be measured as a function of wavelength. Fixed monochromators are used with CCDs and photodiode arrays. As both of these devices consist of many detectors grouped into one or two dimensional arrays, they are able to collect light of different wavelengths on different pixels or groups of pixels simultaneously. Common incandescent or quartz halogen light bulbs are most often used as broadband sources of near-infrared radiation for analytical applications. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are also used. The type of detector used depends primarily on the range of wavelengths to be measured.
The primary application of NIR spectroscopy to the human body uses the fact that the transmission and absorption of NIR light in human body tissues contains information about hemoglobin concentration changes. By employing several wavelengths and time resolved (frequency or time domain) method and/or spatially resolved methods, blood flow, volume and absolute tissue saturation (StO2 or Tissue Saturation Index (TSI)) can be quantified. Applications of oximetry by NIRS methods include neuroscience, ergonomics, rehabilitation, brain computer interface, urology, the detection of illnesses that affect the blood circulation (e.g., peripheral vascular disease), the detection and assessment of breast tumors, and the optimization of training in sports medicine.
With respect to absorption spectroscopy, the Beer-Lambert law states that the absorbance of a solution is directly proportional to the concentration of the absorbing species in the solution and the path length. Thus, for a fixed path length, UV/Vis and NIR spectroscopy can be used to determine the concentration of the absorber in a solution. The method is most often used in a quantitative way to determine concentrations of an absorbing species in solution, using the Beer-Lambert law:A=log10(I0/I)=εcL 
where A is the measured absorbance, in Absorbance Units (AU),
I0 is the intensity of the incident light at a given wavelength,
I is the transmitted intensity,
L the path length through the sample, and
c the concentration of the absorbing species.
For each species and wavelength, ε is a constant known as the molar absorptivity or extinction coefficient. This constant is a fundamental molecular property in a given solvent, at a particular temperature and pressure, and has units of 1/M*cm or often AU/M*cm. The absorbance and extinction ε are sometimes defined in terms of the natural logarithm instead of the base-10 logarithm.
The Beer-Lambert Law is useful for characterizing many compounds but does not hold as a universal relationship for the concentration and absorption of all substances.
It is recognized by those skilled in the art that various factors affect these spectroscopic systems. These factors include spectral bandwidth, wavelength error, stray light, deviations from the Beer-Lambert law, and measurement uncertainty sources.
Stray light is an important factor that affects spectroscopic systems. Stray light causes an instrument to report an incorrectly low absorbance.
Deviations from the Beer-Lambert law arise based on concentrations. At sufficiently high concentrations, the absorption bands will saturate and show absorption flattening. The absorption peak appears to flatten because close to 100% of the light is already being absorbed. The concentration at which this occurs depends on the particular compound being measured.
Measurement uncertainty arises in quantitative chemical analysis where the results are additionally affected by uncertainty sources from the nature of the compounds and/or solutions that are measured. These include spectral interferences caused by absorption band overlap, fading of the color of the absorbing species (caused by decomposition or reaction) and possible composition mismatch between the sample and the calibration solution.